The Rebelle blog

 ...Country roads,  take me home  To the place I belong! I am crooning to Olivia Newton- John singing this lovely, understated melody from the Studio Ghibli movie 'Whisper of the Heart.' I watched it one slow summer night as I was lying low with self-doubt and an extreme dip into my self-esteem. What a saver it turned out to be! I resonated with Shizuku, her love for reading and writing and struggling to fit in the ideas of how everyone wanted her to be. How strange that age is truly just a number, and anybody can feel vulnerable yet derive strength from such visually striking stories. Coming of age is just a phenomenon and we can do so at any point in our lives.  So enthralled was I with the viewing that I rewatched it a couple of days later with another young friend. The feeling remained the same, filled with awe and a resonance with her discoveries. I became a little girl once again and relished the things that made me, ME. Sometimes it takes not people but a work...

This is what I intend to do on the leap year day, today. Start reading one of these many fine books. There is magic and religion and physics and quantum mechanics, not to forget sociology, feminist studies and the cosmos too. Now where is the conundrum? It is precisely in choosing ONE among these books. I am so crazy that I bought a big, beautiful edition of the collected works of Charlotte and Emily Bronte as a wedding gift for a dear friend. I hope Heathcliff and Catherine don't spook her but instead provide lessons in love and misery of the married life. (The last one is not what I wish for.) Currently, I am totally torn between reading for academic exams which have public administration and sociology among many subjects to study but also reviewing a history primer on Mumbai written in 1883. Isn't it nice? I am giving my grey cells extra running by dabbling in different languages. Just to up the enthusiasm, having my hands full of some good lip-smacking reading pie...

So, I did not make it to a very prestigious Entrance Exam conducted throughout the nation. And, I am disappointed. Although, I was quite calm when the results came out, now after a day or two of pondering excessively on the failure, my misery has finally got a better hold of me. Because, I was studying for over a year for this exam, and had quit my job I feel really low right now. I have gained such immense knowledge in this last year, yet I've lost a lot of hands on experience from my job. I, now have decided to apply for a PG Diploma in Urban Planning and Development via a distance learning programme, so it means, I will continue studying for my exam till next year and also, get a degree. Perhaps, I could also work part-time somewhere. Because Architecture is such a hectic and stressed vocation, I need to include academics, a job and the exam prep in a balanced way, so as not to ruin everything. I am being positive about this new venture, and I know I can do these three ...